Reporting on Whistler

The drive to Whistler was spectacular and not nearly as busy as we had anticipated.  In fact, the roads were virtually empty thanks to the implementation of a Sea-to-Sky driving pass that only allowed individuals with personal parking spaces in Whistler to drive the highway between 6 am and 6 pm during the Olympic games.  Rich planned ahead and ensured that the people we rented from were able to give us a driving pass and therefore we did not need to make our journey extremely early in the morning or late at night and also got to see the sights in daylight.  However, our girls learned the hard way that it is much better to sit back and enjoy the views on a winding road than it is to try and read a book.  Poor Kate felt so nauseated from reading while driving through the mountain pass that she is hesitant to do anything but look out of the window in the car anymore!

We arrived in Whistler with an hour to get to the Sliding Centre where we had tickets for the first 2 runs of men's and women's Skeleton.  We were very worried that, based on our experience in Vancouver, this would not give us enough time to get to the venue and through security before the event started.  To our delight the crowds in Whistler were not the same as those in Vancouver and the process to get into the events was easier as a result.  We rode the bus to the venue, passed through security and found our seats with plenty of time to spare.  Although we had seats at the event we decided to do the fun thing and "walk the track" to see the races instead.  What a thrill!!! 

I was amazed at how close spectators can get to the track where people are shooting themsleves down at 150 km/hr.  I hope our pictures help to give you an idea of how close you can actually get to this sport.  There is a short (waist-high) guard rail between spectators and the track and by leaning slightly over you can touch the ice on the track.  And the speed!!!!  Cameras do wonderous things because those sliders are truly a blur as they shoot past and if you were to blink you would miss them passing you.  I cannot think of anything more crazy and stupid (although it was very fun to watch)!  The girls thought watching the sport was alright but enjoyed building their own luge track in the snow better.   As we hadn't seen any snow in Vancouver they were thrilled to finally be able to have some winter fun. 

On Friday Rich secured himself a ticket to Ski Jumping which he really wanted to see but we couldn't get tickets for before we left.  The girls and I met him at the Whistler Olympic Park which is a 35 minute bus ride from Whistler Village.  We watched the Ladies 15km Pursuit Cross Country Skiing.  This is the true definition of sport!  Speed, fitness, agility- those women are impressive.  Later that evening, back in the Village we bumped into the mother of the Silver medalist of this event.  She was carrying flowers from the victory ceremony and Kate and Shannon were curious as to how she got them.  She explained to us that she was from Sweden and her daughter had won a silver medal- what a proud mum!!  That same night while Kate, Shannon and I were painting Whistler Village red and Rich and Ainsley were relaxing in our condo enjoying some Olympic TV action and an early bedtime, Jon Montgomery won the first Whistler gold for Canada!   What an exciting place to be!!!  We celebrated with Beaver Tails and hot chocolate (although you all now know that Jon celebrated with a pitcher of beer!).

Saturday was our day to explore Whistler and we did it by riding the Peak-to-Peak Gondola from Whistler to Blackcomb Mountain.  Not being a lover of heights this was not my favourite part of the day but very cool just the same and something that you have to do if ever in Whistler.  The views are great and the fact that it is the longest continous lift system in the world is something else that makes it remarkable.  With the day wearing on, we decided that since it was our last night at the Olympics it had to be memorable and special.  What better way to ensure that than to watch Jon Montgomery receive his medal at the Victory Ceremony?  For the second time in our Olympic experience we got to sing "O Canada" in the presence of a Canadian gold medal athlete.  These were my biggest thrills.  We then took in the amazing "Fire and Ice" ski and snowboard show that happened nightly in Whistler Village before heading back to bed.  The perfect ending to a fantastic adventure.

To sum it up- Whistler was fantastic and offered a different Olympic experience than Vancouver.  I am glad we decided to experience both venues as they were the perfect compliment to each other- culture to cool, hospitality to hip and happening.  What a great experience!